By Tom Bode, President
In Kenya, as other countries, girls face many obstacles to receiving education, so that by the time they finish primary school, girls on average score much lower than boys. Yet, research shows that educating girls has large benefits for their communities. Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and founder of Central Asia Institute, has worked in international development for two decades. In a recent magazine article, he said that “the most powerful force of change, and the best investment one can make in a developing society, is girls’ education.” He gave some examples of the effect of educating girls:
Women with more education are more likely to have smaller, healthier, and better-education families
Educated women have higher incomes and contribute to their national economy
Educated women are more likely to stand up for themselves, to participate in politics, and to resist violence
Educated women direct more of their resources to their children’s health and education than men
Children of educated women study harder and receive more education themselves
World Scholarship Initiative awards scholarships based partly on a desire to ensure that girls have an opportunity for education alongside boys. Currently, all three students we sponsor are girls and we are dedicated to making sure that at least half of the students we sponsor are girls.
For more information and fact citations, see Why is Girls’ Education So Important? by Greg Mortenson in Fall 2013 edition of Journey of Hope magazine, available at https://www.ikat.org/publications/2013JOH.pdf